COVID-19 Update: 4/8/2020

We have fantastic examples across our campus of faculty helping others. Dr. Lee Hughes from Biological Sciences has developed a YouTube series on Teaching in the Time of Coronavirus. This 17-episode series highlights tips and helpful mindsets that can help emotionally prepare teachers for both the expected and unanticipated aspects of online teaching during this time. I’m so proud of the work you all are doing in keeping our students’ needs top of mind.

“Have you registered for summer and fall 2020 sessions yet? While COVID-19 has created some uncertainty for us all, UNT is committed to helping the Mean Green family turn dreams into reality. It’s quick and easy to register here: https://registration.unt.edu. Let’s get through this together!”
  1. Realizing that COVID-19 has had differing impacts on faculty in the completion of professional accomplishments toward tenure and promotion, the University of North Texas will offer tenure-track faculty the opportunity to opt-in for an automatic one-year extension of the tenure clock
  2. While I remain impressed by the faculty and staff’s remarkable response to this semester’s challenges, new ones await. Our enrollment numbers for summer and fall sessions are down substantially for continuing students, and I ask you to help us move back to where we need to be to ensure our students are continuing their education. For staff, when you interact with students, ask if they have registered for summer or fall. If they haven’t, offer an encouraging word. We believe that a considerable part of the slower pace in registrations is the uncertainty we are all grappling with right now. It would help a great deal if faculty can post the following as a Canvas announcement.
  3. We know that our students are facing financial challenges. The Stay Green fund awarded more than $200,000 to date. Many more applications are coming in. If you encounter a student experiencing financial need, encourage them to apply to the fund. And if you are able, consider donating UNT Cares.
  4. We are responding to needs as you raise them, a few new resources:
    1. Online Grade Change Form: https://registrar.unt.edu/faculty. Faculty need to login to a SharePoint site to access the form.
    2. Zoom Security Tips to avoid Zoom Bombings: https://classroomsupport.unt.edu/zoom-security which also is linked from teachanywhere.unt.edu.
  5. I know many of you are wondering when will we be able to come back to campus to resume our normal operations. At this time Denton has a stay in place order through April 30. As long as there is a stay in place order we will continue to limit the campus to essential personnel.

Recognizing the needs in our health care community, the College of Engineering and the College of Visual Arts and Design have collaborated to put our 3D printers to work in this crisis. These colleges’ facilities are being used to produce emergency use splitters for ventilators for use in critical hospital conditions where access to limited ventilators is a life or death situation. The UNT-made splitters will hopefully fill an emergency gap until additional ventilators can be provided. Our second goal is to make face masks for hospitals where PPE supplies are still limited. We should all be proud of our efforts to support the response to COVID-19.